Squidoo: I don't get it

[lh1234]

A8ch

Great lens - you can tell you put a lot of effort into it. Is it still helping you get traffic?
lh

[Droopy Dawg]

Originally Posted by plexpert

I use squidoo mostly for backlinks to my main sites. One of my friends in real life is making about $500 a month of squidoo and she doesn't know a think about making webpages. I guess it has it's appeal there where you can build pages easily without know much about seo, html java etc.

I haven't put much time into squidoo because:
1) You can't have an opt in page in squidoo and I do a lot of email marketing
2) You can't effectively use ppc marketing in my opinion because the user is sent to a content site with too many bounce links (other squiddo lenses, advertisements, etc).
3) You cannot track your affiliate sales.

I see a few people doing using PPC for squidoo lenses, I just don't know how it would work.

I guess it can be good for adsense if you find good keywords and work on seo. Good for people to get started with internet marketing if you've never built a website.

-> My lens w/opt-in http://www.squidoo.com/Forex-trading-overview

1st page of Google within 9 hours... I swear...

[JeffreyM]

I agree. I took a look at the sight a few days ago./ I did know what all the fuss was about. It seems to be a huge waste of my time.

[t!]

according to my friend, that makes several million a year, you hook squidoo into a network of high pr site pages
wetpaint.com
squidoo.com
hubpages.com
tumblr.com
wordpress.com
about 8 others

each page on each site connecting to another high pr site page and also connected to your page. If you do it right, he says you get to the top of google.

[Chika Nwoko]

I think Jacquie Lee said it best. You must optimize your Squidoo lens effectively with the whole enchilada otherwise it won't work for you....

[mortbort]

I have an idea.

Up to date I'm scared of automated link building software for established domains. But what if I used those types of programs to build links to a squidoo page and then passed the juice to a credible website from there?

It would be "link laundering" kind of like money laundering but for links. Thoughts?

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by mortbort

I have an idea.

Up to date I'm scared of automated link building software for established domains. But what if I used those types of programs to build links to a squidoo page and then passed the juice to a credible website from there?

It would be "link laundering" kind of like money laundering but for links. Thoughts?

Automated or not, your site won't get banned... if you can get someone site banned with automated tool, go open up a WSO, I will be the first to purchase, I have tons of sites I wanted to sandbox!

[MikeGriffith]

I use Squidoo and it's great for me. But you have to know how to optimize it for Google. I know a lady from Georgia who made over $150,000 in one year with a marketing plan she devised using Squidoo. PM me and I'll tell you about it.

[Andrew Maule]

Reasons Squidoo is great:

*It's easy to set up
*You can piggy back on their page rank
*You can monetize with their Amazon stuff

Reasons Squidoo is total crap:

*You have no control over what happens to it
*People can flag it and have it taken down (like your competitors)
*Visitors get distracted with Squidoo's adsense, related lenses, etc.

It's a mixed bag like always. I wouldn't rely on it, but if you pick a good niche or keyword, make a solid lens and backlink the hell out of it you can rank #1 and make good money as long as no one has Squidoo lock it.

[InternetMarketingIQ]

This article is a bit old now... but I'm not sure Google Love's Squidoo as much as people want to believe. Those ranking in Google are likely not ranking because of Squidoo, but because the content is relevant.

Google Acting Against Squidoo Due To Spam

[SumikoW]

I'm with most of you, not much activity from my Squidoo lenses.

[dsmpublishing]

I was a bit of a late starter with squidoo and can understand how you feel. When i first came across it i thought it was some freaky uperclass version of blogger. Another free site that would shut me down after a while even if i did nothing wrong once i had excellent traffic in there direction.

Then last xmas i reviewed this amazing traffic generation ebook from a fellow wf member and the section on squidoo really got me thinking.

Since then ive outsourced and created my own lenses and the traffic and backlinks and sales together have been amazing. Like everything new we are often afraid of it but i thoroughly recommend that you give it a go.

Here is a free squidoo ebook (no email addy required) to show you how to become a squidoo expert:

Samantha Milner's Expert Series - Become a Squidoo Expert in 24Hrs

kind regards


sam
X

[Cutthroat]

I don't understand how anyone uses Squidoo? I have been a chronic internet user since the mid to late 1990's (at least a few hours every day) and not ONCE have I EVER encountered a Squidoo page and I use Google instead of the address bar half the time to find websites LOL.

Is the best advice to use Squidoo as a backlink and not spend too much time on it?

[KentuckyJeff]

Don't underestimate Squidoo. Even if you don't have another 'money site,' using GOOD keyword research and some good keyword-rich articles published on EZA, you can make very good money.

There are people making unbelievable amounts of money using Squidoo. Some of the Giant Squids especially are making many times more money just from Squidoo than I could ever hope to earn working a regular job.

[Cutthroat]

Originally Posted by KentuckyJeff

Don't underestimate Squidoo. Even if you don't have another 'money site,' using GOOD keyword research and some good keyword-rich articles published on EZA, you can make very good money.

There are people making unbelievable amounts of money using Squidoo. Some of the Giant Squids especially are making many times more money just from Squidoo than I could ever hope to earn working a regular job.

Like who? What is the URL's to their pages?

[acedalright]

I don't like squidoo, it's too busy, it implies you need to continuously tend to lenses and it's covered in links.

Talk about link dilution.

As for the Google loves it quotes, I tend to think Google loves highly optimized, long pages with great keyword focus.

Still, at least the links are dofollow, unless they deem it to be a work in progress.

I've written 800 word lenses that are wip's.

- Delete

- Add to Ezinarticles

Hello links, traffic and sanity!

[samsonthomas]

I have just started using squidoo and hubpages mainly for getting links to my main page and getting indexed in Google. I have been successful with Google listing but have a long way to go yet. I think hubpages is helping me more than squidoo.
As a money making tool, I dont think it would be worthwhile but as a part of article marketing plan, I think it has its value.

[samsonthomas]

I have just started using squidoo and hubpages mainly for getting links to my main page and getting indexed in Google. I have been successful with Google listing but have a long way to go yet. I think hubpages is helping me more than squidoo.
As a money making tool, I dont think it would be worthwhile but as a part of article marketing plan, I think it has its value.

[MurphSmurf]

I use Squidoo a lot. Usually, I'll create around 4 or 5 lenses, each optimized for different keywords, then I'll write a Hubpage for each keyword, each linking to the corresponding Squidoo lens. Then, I'll write two or three Ezinearticles per keyword, all linking to the lenses.

This is a great way to get the lenses ranking high in the SERPs. It's pretty easy, too, because Google loves Squidoo.

I would say a majority of the income I've made online has come from Squidoo.

[Ryan6]

I wrote an article about Squidoo just a few days ago. Here's the link for it!

The lenses seem to rank extremely well in Google and there's no waiting around to get each lens approved. You can throw in nice anchor text for inner pages so it definitely has value. I think Squidoo is good for experimental projects where you target one such product.

Their referral program is quite sneaky though, whereby you get 5$ per referral, but each referral has to earn 15$ before you get the money. It'd take some work getting that 15$ cos they share the revenue out between the very top guys. HubPages offer a flat 10% share, which is more fair.

Create the best lens you possibly can and you'll probably earn some good money. Otherwise, just use it to join up the dots for all of your sites.

[KentuckyJeff]

Try looking for Lenses by thefluffanutta for a start. Here's one of his Lenses to get you going. There's lots of links from there. Captain Squid is a major player also, there's many. Here's a Captain Squid Lens on $500/DAY from Squidoo!! That's from almost a year ago though, there's a link below with even more impressive numbers.

Here's a link for the Top 100 Rated Lensmasters. I'm not sure how old it is, but it should have some of the Squidoo big guys/girls on there. It'll get you started.

If you look around, starting in the Squidoo Forum, you can find some posts about how much money some of those people are making.

Not everyone likes to brag, some donate everything to charity, and some maybe stretch the truth, but you can get a general idea about what is possible. Just do some Google searches.

If you're willing to put in the time and effort, you could earn a good living with Squidoo and some good articles on EZA. I'd have your own hosted sites too though.

Oh, read this one closely. The Captain is amazing.

I think I have 20 Lenses, and about 20 of them suck!! Even so, I have managed to make about $200 on one lens since June 29th. That's pretty much a single article on EZA (which is setting on 1st. page of Google right now), and that single Lens.

I never really applied myself before because I wasn't making any money, but now I know for sure it can be done.

I will be stepping up my Squidoo activity for sure!!

[Cutthroat]

Thanks for the links Jeff.

Question, what if you want to build your own virtual real estate empire (I heard John Reese say this phrase before)... would it be best to make simple lens pages for the main purpose of a backlink to your "real" site and thus making any income from it is just an added bonus?

I want to grow traffic to my own sites... not grow Squidoo.

[CatherineAKACeeCee]

Hey YseUp, I've been tackling Squidoo Lens for the past 6 months with no really success as yet. I painfully learnt that there is a right way and a wrong way to use Squidoo Lens... I think I'm finally going to make a break through and if I do... dare I say it... then sure enough... anyone can. Fingers X'd

[Cutthroat]

Originally Posted by CatherineAKACeeCee

Hey YseUp, I've been tackling Squidoo Lens for the past 6 months with no really success as yet. I painfully learnt that there is a right way and a wrong way to use Squidoo Lens... I think I'm finally going to make a break through and if I do... dare I say it... then sure enough... anyone can. Fingers X'd

What is the right and wrong ways to do it?

[KentuckyJeff]

I'm obviously not an expert by any means. I do always have links from my Lenses to my personal sites, but I would always try to add decent Lenses though. At least something of some value and/or interest to others. There were too many people just throwing up trash trying to make a quick buck or just to get the link value.

I know a lot of people don't like having all of their financial eggs in one basket, unless they own the basket too!! So, I would have personal sites for sure. If you make money from Squidoo and your personal sites to boot, you don't stand to lose everything if Squidoo (or your hosting) goes away for some reason.

Just imagine if you were making $10,000/month only from Squidoo, and your account got shut down for some reason, or Squidoo went through some drastic changes that took away your livlihood somehow.

[HiTom]

Originally Posted by stacyfox

I also use Squidoo to generate some high pr backlinks to my EZA articles. I publish 4-5 articles on the same topic at EZA. Then, I copy 1/3 of an article and put it in a text box on Squidoo. At the end of the article fragment, I put a variation of the "to continue reading, click here" button.
Stacy

That's about how I use it too. Basically you want more backlinks to your website or more exposure. So creating a lens for me is just doing article marketing. In addition to submitting to article directories you can put your article on a lens.

I almost always use and only use the Text module. I think you need 3 modules to have your lens published (not sure), so you can just split your article on 3 text modules. I've done that. Not sure about the traffic I get but that's still some more backlinks/advertising for your sites.

Tom

[davesanclemente]

Originally Posted by Cutthroat

What is the right and wrong ways to do it?

You shouldn't just rely on Squidoo for your marketing. Nor should you ever rely on your earnings directly from Squidoo. Squidoo is most effective when used in combination with other Internet Marketing methods. It's not a silver bullet but is super-effective when done right. It especially helps your SEO and backlinking efforts.

I hope this isn't breaking any warrior forum rules by posting this here, but I used to sell a Squidoo training course. I took it off the market in 2008 and am now giving it away free. Check out my signature for the link.

I have almost 3 hours of videos that show you the right ways to Squidoo. I hope it helps you.

- Dave

[LegitSells]

I have used Squidoo to make all my money that I am now using to create actual websites. O.o